Buildings often utilizes fluid systems to transfer thermal energy either to or from rooms in the building. One non-limiting example of such a system is a hydronic system. Such fluid systems often use thermostats to regulate the amount of flow to a terminal associated with the room—with the goal of regulating the temperature of the room. However, there is a problem with this approach. Thermostats operate in an uninformed manner in that they only measure the temperature of the room and not the heating or cooling capacity of the fluid. Stated differently, thermostats disregard and are unaware of thermal energy in the fluid.
In addition, malfunctions in such systems are often difficult to diagnose because one part of the system affects another, and terminals are often difficult to access and measure.